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New Numbers on Linux Market Share Soon

prostoalex writes "New numbers on Linux market share are due this week. As far as global PC market is concerned, Gartner claims 5% of all PCs shipped this year ran Linux OS, although by the time the PCs were actually on the user's desk, only 2% of them run Linux. In the server world IDC estimates that Linux-powered servers comprise 28.3% of all server sales in 2004."

7 of 611 comments (clear)

  1. First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Props to GNAA

  2. WindowsXP is free... by CyberBill · · Score: 0, Troll

    So long as I can download Windows XP and get a valid serial number generator, I have no reason to install Linux.

    -Bill

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    -Bill
  3. Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Who cares anyway what people are running, OS/2, Solaris, FreeBSD, I mean, it's like, what is the percentage of general motors cars sold last year, who really cares unless you have Microsoft/SCO stocks? And how many of us have MS stocks?

  4. Re:The other way around? by dont_think_twice · · Score: -1, Troll

    And how many people buy PCs with Windows on them, and immediately format the disk(s) and install Linux?

    17? Maybe 20?

  5. Re:Ship % should underestimate, not overestimate.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Ah, yes, only ignorant people run Windows... Re-Educated will only choose Linux.
    Until you guys figure out that's not true, no marketshare for you!

  6. Re:Human nature ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Most people won't switch, because they have been using Win, Office and IE at home and in the office for five or more years. People are simply USED to this set of applications and are not keen to learn something new - no matter how geeky, secure and cool it is.

    And to give my opinion, most people don't have a single reason to change, and most people ARE happy with Microsoft's software. Funny that most of MS bashers here are Linux users who have no experience of Windows whatsoever. "Windows is unsecure and crashes all the time blah blah blah". Bullshit. I have never, _never_ got virus, spy, or adware on my Windows XP installation, and it crashes less than Linux. Last crash was about 6 months ago last time due early Ati drivers.

    With Linux, it is not really hard to make system lockup. Just modprobe some broken or wrong driver, X has changes to halt whole machine (happened to me many times) and so on. Sorry Zealots, your Linux is not a perfect solution for computing problems at home.

    Securing Windows is seriously not that hard. Few steps and little bit of Common Sense(tm) and you're fine:

    1) Firewall on. Yes, it's stupid design to have RPC services listening and you cannot even shut them down. This anyway is fixed with Firewall. Such as Zonealarm. I use both two, XP's builtin along with Zonealarm in case Zonealarm crashes or sumthing.

    2) Get the patches. Not that hard. WindowsUpdate is easy to use.

    3) Get antivirus, just in case. For example http://www.avast.com has free-for-home-usage virusscanner which does good job.

    4) Don't use IE or Outlook :) This alone shuts down most of Windows'es security holes. Get your internet apps from Mozilla.

    Also some common sense using pirated software (best thing is to NOT use any, like I don't), most of the spyware comes from Kazaa. Don't download russian-mafia-pirated games. Those are not clean. If you do, blame yourself.

    And before all Linux Zealots start once again shouting about MS Office's price blablabla, For Your Information, OpenOffice is available for Windows too. That's right! Amazing, isn't it? No need to pay anything. There is alot of free and open source software for Windows. Alot. ALOT!

    Not meant to be troll, I am just sick and tired of hearing FUD from Linux Zealots who have no experience on Windows or they don't know how to use it. Some basics on Windows security are good to know, and what steps to take to secure it. You need to do securing steps on Linux, especially on Linux servers too (Apache on default settings, running as root for example is not wise). Even pretty much any Linux distribution is safer out of box than XP, it doesn't mean Windows is impossible or even hard to secure up.

  7. Re:Ship % should underestimate, not overestimate.. by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 0, Troll

    I saw a Linux PC at Fry's Electronics the other day. Lindows, actually. It had crashed :-/

    --
    main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}